NYICFF ’25: Tiddler (short)

This little fish feels very self-conscious about his supposedly drab grey scales, but instead of taking pride in his delicious taste and healthy omega-3 fatty acids, he builds his confidence by telling tall tales. However, his talent will come in handy in Alex Bain & Andy Martin’s Tiddler, the latest BBC and Magic Light Pictures-produced animated short based on a Julia Donaldson book, which screens as pat of the Shorts for Tots program at the 2025 New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Tiddler thinks he is the plainest fish in his literal school, but the skate teacher obviously looks like a skate fish—so maybe he shouldn’t be so hard on himself. Regardless, Tiddler constantly tries to build himself up by arriving late each morning, breathlessly creating an unlikely adventure to explain his tardiness. Most of his fellow students roll their fish eyes, but his pal Johnny Dory loves his crazy fish stories.

In fact, Dory constantly spreads Tiddler’s stories to other fish, who pass them on in turn to other aquatic creatures. Unbeknownst to Tiddler, his fame has spread quite widely throughout the ocean. That notoriety comes in handy after he narrowly escapes from a commercial fishing boat.

Perhaps you could think of Tiddler as a more compact and economical Finding Nemo. Of course, lost animals are a staple of animated fare. Despite any such similarities, you have to like any film that celebrates both creativity and truancy, right parents?

Alice Lowe’s Timestalker

Maybe what some people call fate is really just chronic, centuries-spanning stupidity. That is basically the whole point of this film. In life after reincarnated life, Agnes keeps falling in love with Alex and it always ends really, really badly—or worse. Yet, she repeatedly makes the same awful decisions in screenwriter-director Alice Lowe’s Timestalker, which releases today in theaters and on-demand.

Frankly, Alex probably peaked during his first meeting with Agnes, in 1680 Scotland. He was quite taken with her, but she still dies throughout an unlikely accident. Still, you can see why she might want a do-over. However, Alex the 1790s English highwayman is a slimy user. So is Alex the fading 1980s New Wave pop star. Unfortunately, these are the two time periods Lowe devotes the most time to.

In each of her lives, Agnes quickly recognizes Alex as her man of destiny. Yet, she never seems to mean anything to him. However, the Iago-like Scipio appears to understand Agnes’ fateful dilemma, at least to a partial extent.

Timestalker is sort of like the Orlando spoof we never knew we needed, because we obviously didn’t. Lowe had much more success translating British “kitchen sink” aesthetics into genre films like Prevenge and Sightseers, which she co-wrote Ben Wheatley. This time around, she leans into cringe, with swiftly declining marginal returns.

At times, Lowe captures a hint of cosmic mystery, but what the film does best is simply reminding viewers how Sally Potter’s Orlando is such a better film. Perhaps, part of the problem is a structural imbalance. The narrative spends too much time in 1790 and the unspecified early 1980s, while the 1940s and futuristic segments are sketchy in a tacked-on afterthought kind of way.

Sunray: Fallen Soldier

Most soldiers hope their service will keep violence and danger away from their homeland and families. Usually, that is why they sign-up in the first place. When tragedy finds their loved ones anyway, they might feel like they failed, but it is more likely that we failed them. Andrew Coleman (Echo 1) was already burdened with guilt stemming from the death of several comrades in Afghanistan. His daughter’s premature demise from poison-laced drugs pushes him over the edge. However, the illicit gang responsible gives Coleman a target and an outlet for his rage. He cannot fight the entire organization by himself, but Echo 2, 3, and 4 loyally rally behind him in James Clarke & Daniel Shepherd’s Sunray: Fallen Soldier, produced by and starring former Royal Marine Commandos, which is now available on VOD.

When Coleman returned home, he carried the unfortunate events of his tour back with him. Inevitably, it affected his relationships with his soon-to-be ex-wife Elaine and their teen daughter Rachel, even though both women recognize and understand he still struggles with unresolved trauma. Even with a troubled father, Elaine is a pretty good kid, but when mean girls successfully peer-pressure her into trying coke, her mistake turns fatal.

Frankly, her boyfriend Cassius is considerably broken-up over it as well, but he left her alone, with a bad element. He should have known better, because that is his world. As the son of Lucian, a long-reigning druglord, he was directly involved in supplying the drugs. Consequently, Coleman wants Cassius dead—and he is willing to work his way up the organizational flow chart to get to him. He starts off wielding nail guns and hammers, but when his vendetta gets messy, his old teammates, Smudge, Sledge, and Harper (Echo 2-4), bail him out and help upgrade his hardware.

Sunray is a throwback to old school vet-turned-vigilante movies, represented by the likes of the Robert Ginty Exterminator films. Frankly, this film is so gritty it sometimes feels like sandpaper on your eyeballs. Yet, the directness of the action scenes is undeniably effective.

The same is true for 29-year Royal Marine veteran Tip Cullen, who broods like a house on fire as Coleman. You would be hard-pressed to find a more grizzled or gristly actor, but that gives him instant credibility in Sunray. Tom Leigh, Luke Solomon, and Steven Blades, fellow veterans all, have equal cred walking the walk and talking the talk, as Echo 2, 3, and 4. With Cullen they nicely create a sense of the fellowship that comes from serving together.

Blitz, on Apple TV+

Most Americans cannot imagine what it was like in London during the Blitz and simply couldn’t handle living under such a constant threat of death. There is one nation that can identify with survivors of the Blitz—Israel, a nation that endured ceaseless suicide bombings well before October 7^th. To a degree, viewers get a taste of the crushing enormity of the National Socialists’ indiscriminate bombardment in director-screenwriter Steve McQueen’s Blitz, which premieres tomorrow on Apple TV+.

After watching the first ten minutes of Blitz, it is easy to understand why Rita Hanway secured a place for her son George aboard one of the last trains evacuating children to the countryside. However, he resents his single mother supposedly unloading him, so his parting words are terrible. Yet, he will probably better understand her reluctant decision after the events he will witness during the film.

Indeed, he feels rather guilty once the train steams away, so he soon hops off, to make his way back to her. Of course, the journey hopping rails hobo-style would be rather unsafe, even under ordinary circumstances. With the Luftwaffe carpet-bombing the East End, it is downright perilous. Even when he makes it back to London, the dangers are not over, especially when Albert’s Dickensian gang of corpse and bombsite looters get their claws into him.

Meanwhile, as Ms. Hanway pines for her son and his Caribbean immigrant father, whose life might have been ironically saved when the authorities deported him, she is drawn to the socialist preachings of the leader of a makeshift alternate bomb-shelter.

There are huge set-pieces in Blitz that are nothing short of brilliant. The opening prologue is truly jaw-dropping and a later sequence, showing Ken “Snakehips” Johnson’s final performance up until and past the point a German bomb falls on the swanky night where he was performing is probably even more devastating.

Weirdly, Blitz probably would have been stronger if McQueen had de-emphasized the narrative and concentrated on the viscerally tactile recreations of the devastation unleashed on London. There are images in this film that are truly unforgettable.

On the other hand, the mother-son melodrama comes across as forced and even rather contrived, in comparison. Plus, McQueen’s attempts at class-conscious social commentary ring with pettiness, given the wider circumstances. Frankly, in both cases, the dialogue sounds rather wooden.

Arguably, Blitz would have been a much better film if it talked less and showed more. Young Elliott Heffernan is very strong throughout the film, but McQueen’s decisions only truly let him shine in a handful of gem-like scenes. One standout example would be his late-night encounter with Ife, a sympathetic air-raid warden of West African descent, played with aching sensitivity by Benjamin Clementine. His relatively small supporting performance is absolutely beautiful and a highlight of Blitz.

Lore, an Anthology “Hosted” by Richard Brake

A truly memorable anthology needs a good host. It is impossible to overstate what Rod Serling and the Crypt Keeper brought to The Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt. For this film, Richard Brake is quite inhospitable, but in the right way. It would be a really bad idea to go camping with him, but people do it anyway in James Bushe & Patrick Ryder’s Lore (with an installment from Greig Johnson), which releases today on the Icon Film Channel in the UK.

At the start of the wrap-around segments, “The Campfire” written by Patrick Ryder & Christine Barber-Ryder and directed by Ryder & James Bushe, four not especially bright friends meet-up for Darwin’s immersive horror outing. Everything about that screams “bad idea,” right? There they are regardless, so on the first night, he challenges them to throw a totem in the fire and tell a story that is not merely scary, but profoundly disturbing to them.

The cocky guy starts with “Shadows” written and directed by Bushe. Frankly, it is strange that this yarn, in which gangsters chase a two-bit hood into an empty warehouse, only to find a possibly greater monster inside, would make such impression on the teller. This is the weakest constituent tale, but the execution is still tautly effective.

“The Hidden Woman” written by Ryder & Barber-Ryder, but solely helmed by Ryder is also somewhat familiar in terms of themes and premise, but it is very creepy. A single mother and her young son have inherited a house that is almost certainly haunted. The apparition in question has a strong attachment to an antique phonograph, which is nifty horror prop.

The ringer in the bunch, “Cross Your Heart” comes from screenwriter-director Greig Johnson, but he is probably the most successful evoking ironic Tales from the Crypt vibes (both in the spirit of the comic, but particularly the TV series). Poor long-suffering and sometimes abused Cath has reluctantly agreed to humor her cad husband Steve, by participating in a swinger-swap. However, he is too horny and drug-addled to see the seductive Donna has some much nastier (and largely deserved) in store for him.

Katie Sheridan, Rufus Hound, and Alana Wallace are all terrific in the three featured roles. It is all mordantly funny, but then later disturbing to think you of the potential implication of what viewers most likely cheered on.

A Gangster’s Kiss, Co-Starring John Hannah & Patsy Kensit

Blokey Jack is making a bigger mistake than Shelley Long when he decides to leave his EastEnders-like TV series to make movies. Planning to appear in a gangster film, he starts researching the role by shadowing his old school pal Danny, who works as an enforcer for his crime-boss uncle, Don. What could wrong? Judging from the body they are burying in the in media res prologue, plenty. There is no shortage of mayhem but the comedy is not so funny in Ray Burdis’s A Gangster’s Kiss, which releases today in some markets on VOD.

This will be the worst internship ever. Old Jack was just supposed to keep his head down and his mouth shut. Unfortunately, Mus, one of three sort of Turkish brothers supplying drugs to Don’s operation, recognizes Jack and wants to strike up a friendship with the minor celebrity. The actor tries to decline his advances diplomatically, but fails spectacularly. Suddenly, a gang war threatens to erupt in London—and it will mostly be his fault.

There is no question much of the film was cast in hopes of appealing to late-1980s/early-1990s nostalgia. There is Patsy Kensit (Lethal Weapon 2, Absolute Beginners) appearing as Don’s lawyer, Crassus, whose tough-luck counsel seems more likely to inspire turning state’s evidence than maintaining the code of silence.

John Hannah (Four Weddings and a Funeral) bizarrely plays Mus’s brother Mem, who sports an eye-patch, peg leg, and a hook for a hand. At least Martin Kemp (The Krays and Spandau Ballet videos) understands how to ham it up without overindulging in schtick as cranky Uncle Don.

SIFF ’24: Scala!!!

When John Waters shows up in a documentary about a theater, you know some crazy films must have screened there. They programmed his movies, which definitely qualify. The theater was also known for showing horror, martial arts, art films, and sexploitation bordering on outright raunch. Of course, for regulars, its seediness was part of its charm. Staff, customers, and famous filmmakers remember the good times in Jane Giles &Ali Catterall’s documentary, Scala!!!, which screens again during the 2024 Seattle International Film Festival.

The Beatles filmed one of the concert scenes for A Hard Day’s Night in the old Scala Theater. This is “new” Scala, but it has an apostolic link to the old theater, after the original location was demolished. Changing formats a few times, it eventually became the eccentric repertory cinema fans knew and loved, around the time it finally settled into its beloved sketchy King’s Cross neighborhood. Frankly, many talking heads make enthusiastic comparisons to grindhouse era Times Square, especially after the Scala started its tradition of all-night marathon screenings.

The programming was certainly eclectic, including high-end art-house films and sleazy exploitation fare. Of course, budding auteurs like Christiopher Nolan were regular patrons. Touring punk bands often crashed there, instead of renting hotel rooms. A lot of drugs were consumed on the premises and the restrooms were a veritable petri dishes overflowing with STDs. At least two people died there—that the staff are willing to cop to. So yeah, good times.

Admittedly, the wild anecdotes are often amusing. The Scala also screened some great stuff, including Avengers episodes for the series’ fan society, as well as glorified porn. Just about all the talking heads agree the most representative Scala film would be Thundercrack!, a haunted house spoof with X-rated sex scenes, written by George Kuchar.

One Life: Sir Anthony Hopkins as Sir Nicholas Winton

Sir Nicholas Winton has been called the British Schindler, but his heroic rescue work went almost completely unrecognized until 1988. Of course, hardly anyone knew who Oskar Schindler was before the 1993 film. To this day, few people have heard of Varian Fry and the noble Raoul Wallenberg died in a Soviet prison, most likely sometime in the late 1950s. The modest Winton never sought fame, so he is surprised when it belatedly finds him in James Hawes’s One Life, which opens Friday in theaters.

When the National Socialists invaded the Sudetenland, most of the UK government buried their heads in the sand, but a young stockbroker of Jewish German heritage sprang into action. Hinton arrived in Prague as a representative of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia, who believed his expertise in finance and bureaucratic paperwork could come in handy. The local chair Doreen Warriner was focusing on the most at-risk political refugees, because she barely had the bandwidth to handle them.

However, Winton is so struck by the appalling conditions endured by the largely but not exclusively Jewish children in makeshift camps, he launches an ambitious campaign that becomes known as the Kindertransport. British immigration authorities are not quite as obstructionist as the notoriously antisemitic Breckinridge Long in the U.S. State Department, but they require a fifty-pound deposit to insure the children would not burden the state, in addition to visas and pre-arranged foster parents to care for them. Back in England, Winton starts plugging away, with the help of his committee colleagues and his mother Babi, who was hard to say no to.

It is pretty mind-blowing Winton and his colleagues conducted this major fundraising campaign and logistical challenge using type-writers and regular mail service. However, the anti-Jewish hatred they encountered is depressingly commonplace in 2024. What would Winton think about his Labour Party’s persistent scandals involving antisemitism?

Screenwriters Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake go out of their way to point out Winton’s left-leaning politics. Yet, the film takes on a new sense of urgency post 10/7. (In a twist of fate, its UK debut came less than a week after Hamas's savage mass murders, abductions, and weaponized rapes.)

Whether or not you can push outside events out of your mind, Sir Anthony Hopkins is still a marvel as the late-1980s Winton. He portrays the righteous rescuer with deep sincerity and humility that is very moving. You might not pick Hopkins and Johnny Flynn out of a crowd and assume they were related, but he plays 1930s Winton with similarly keen earnestness. We quickly believe they are the same man, seen decades apart.

Forever Young, Co-Starring Bernard Hill & Julian Glover

Every time somebody thinks they have developed a fountain of youth, it always turns out tragic, in a suitably ironic way. Seriously, haven’t they seen The Twilight Zone? Yet, they keep trying. In this case, Robyn Smith’s old ex-flame convinces her to take his new youth serum with him. However, she cannot cajole her faithful husband Oscar to take the plunge with her in Henk Pretorius’s Forever Young, which releases today on VOD.

Smith was once a literary star. Her sales have diminished, but she still outshines loyal old Oscar. Her latest autobiographical book has her pondering all her considerable life regrets, particularly never having a child with Oscar, who was always grade-A fatherhood material. Consequently, she is primed to accept when dodgy old Jim Petrak shows up offering her eternal youth, in the form of his miracle drug Novus.

Seeing Petrak transform himself from an elderly callow reprobate into a young callow reprobate convinces her. However, Petrak has a few fine print details. Smith and all other potential Novus users must pass a battery of health tests. Any form of cancer is disqualifying, because Novus would accelerate the growth of cancerous cells. Unfortunately, Oscar has just been diagnosed, but he hasn’t told his newly youthful wife yet, because he prefers to contemplate his mortality on his own for a while.

If Forever Young had been whittled down to forty-some minutes, it could have been solid Twilight Zone-ish anthology episode, in the lowkey tradition of “Kick the Can.” Pretorius and co-screenwriters Jennifer Nicole Stang and Greg Blyth explore some of the intriguing aspects of immortality, especially asymmetric immortality. However, the big twist we can see coming from twenty blocks away.

Bernard Hill (whom everyone on planet Earth has seen on-screen, since he had smaller supporting roles in Lord of the Rings and Titanic) is terrific as sensitive, soulful Oscar. He also forges consistently poignant chemistry with both Diana Quick, as the senior Smith, and Amy Tyger, as the Novus Smith.

The Canterville Ghost, with the Voice of Stephen Fry

Not all ghosts are scary. Some are rather sad, because they mark the passage of time. Sir Simon de Canterville is definitely like that, but he also shares a kinship with Captain Gregg, Mrs. Muir’s ghost. He was once a holy terror, but he meets his match in a thoroughly modern American family in Kim Burdon’s animated adaptation of The Canterville Ghost, co-directed by Robert Chandler, which opens Friday in theaters.

For three hundred years, Sir Simon scared the willies out of everyone who tried to inhabit Canterville Chase. Unfortunately, Yanks like the Otis family are far too materialistic for ghosts. Virginia’s father Hiram considers himself a man of science, whose electric lights frazzle the ghost’s nerves. Her bratty twin brother torment poor Sir Simon with practical jokes. Of course, she is not scared of him either, but as the late 19^th Century equivalent of a moody goth teen, she is drawn to Sir Simon’s tragic romanticism.

Alas, the ghost would much prefer to be dead, so he can finally be reunited with his beloved wife. Death played a mean trick on him, which made him onery. Otis would like to break his curse, but that will be a complicated and dangerous proposition.

Screenwriters Cory Edwards, Giles New, and Keiron Self collectively did a nice job adapting Oscar Wilde’s novella, retaining his major themes, while punching up some of the dark and stormy bits, for Halloween. Wilde scholars might take issue with Hugh Laurie’s Angel of Death character, but he helps stir the pot and raise the stakes. There is plenty of animated mayhem, but deep down, this film is sadder and wiser than Casper or Topper.

Canterville is indeed a tragic figure, given Shakespearean dimensions (and references) by Stephen Fry’s hammy voice. Emily Carey makes Virginia Otis appealingly smart and sensitive, despite her teen angst. Freddie Highmore sounds appropriately young and befuddled as the Duke of Cheshire, but his voice works surprisingly well in conversation with Carey’s.

Lovecraftian Horror at Anthology: The Stone Tape

One of the only cool things about the 1970s was all the great made-for-TV horror movies that were released. That was also true in the UK, where they produced one of the best. Nigel Kneale is now considered one of the great television writers and this Lovecraftian-themed original definitely helped solidify his standing. Fittingly, Peter Sasdy’s The Stone Tape, written by Kneale, screens as part of the Lovecraftian horror series at Anthology Film Archives.

If this story were happening today, Ryan Electric Products would be battling competition (and possibly state-sponsored corporate espionage) from China. In 1972, R&D head Peter Brock is obsessed with beating Japan. To that end, he launches a massive “pure research” endeavor, hoping his team’s unrestrained brilliance will produce a providential breakthrough. To house his project, Ryan Electric acquired the “Taskerlands,” an ancient manor built above even more ancient ruins. The place has a dark and stormy reputation. It even had an exorcism that reportedly did not take, according to the research of Roy Collinson, Ryan’s facility manager and an old mate of Brock’s.

Somewhat awkwardly, Brock’s former mistress, Jill Greeley, has been assigned to Taskerlands as his computer programming. Apparently, she has heightened susceptibility to the building’s bad supernatural mojo. She feels it so acutely, she nearly crashes her car when first approaching. Initially, Brock condescendingly dismisses the strange sights and sounds of a ghostly woman she reports, until they are corroborated by others. As a stubborn materialist, Brock directs his team to devote their entire powers of computer-driven analysis to the “haunting.” He hopes the sinister stones of the chamber where the presumed spirit of a long dead maid appears will hold the secret of a radical new recording technology. Of course, their investigation will take a decidedly Lovecraftian turn.

Kneale’s screenplay gave rise to an entire paranormal hypothesis known as “The Stone Tape Theory” that posits supposed hauntings are actually the recordings of viscerally traumatic events. Few horror movies have that sort of lasting legacy, but its reputation really endures, because it is so darned creepy.

In addition to being one of Kneale’s best scripts, Stone Tape represents some of Sasdy’s best work (along with his episodes of Hammer House of Horror). Using vintage Doctor Who-level special effects, he creates a sense of dread that is truly Lovecraftian. He and the design team made Taskerlands a very distinctive place that exudes massively bad vibes.

Dead Shot, The IRA Running Amok in 1975 London

The IRA could pretend their members were motivated by their Marxist ideology, but they were usually moved by much more personal considerations, like religion, revenge, or the approval of an abusive father. For Michael O’Hara, it is all about revenge. He is determined to find and kill the soldier who accidentally shot his pregnant wife, but his quest for vengeance is disillusioning rather than radicalizing in Tom Guard & Charles Guard’s Dead Shot, which releases in theaters and on-demand this Friday.

O’Hara had retired into exile, but he returned to Northern Ireland for his pregnant wife Carol’s delivery. Unfortunately, Tempest’s unit had the drop on him, but during the heat of the moment, he sees movement in the backseat of O’Hara’s car and squeezes off three rounds right between Carol’s eyes. It is a propaganda disaster, but Holland, the mysterious deep-state scary guy, promises to protect Tempest from prosecution if he joins his new task force. They will be chasing IRA terrorists in London, using the weapons and tactics of the battlefield. They will need them, because Keenan, a highly placed IRA leader, plans to escalate violent attacks on British civilians.

Although presumed dead, O’Hara is itching to find Tempest. Keenan dangles intel on the reassigned soldier as bait, forcing him to reluctantly assist a campaign of terror increasing directed at civilian targets. It does not sit well with O’Hara or “Catherine the Courier,” who has particularly personal history with Keenan.

The poster for Dead Shot makes it look like a run-of-the-mill VOD action movie, but it rather more thoughtful than that. In many ways, it is a lot like the Dutch series The Spectacular, except it is set in London rather than the Benelux countries. It is a grim and gritty revenge thriller that critiques the ruthlessness of both Holland and Keenan, but the latter probably gets it somewhat worse than the MI-666 shark. Think what you will, but on some level, Holland is a professional, who makes decisions unclouded by emotions.

Lola: The Future Front

They are partially inspired by the Mitford Sisters (especially Diana, the one who married Oswald Mosley), but initially their ideologies are not so extreme—just their personalities. When Thomasina Hanbury invents a device to view the future in 1941, the sisters duly try to use it to serve the British war effort. Unfortunately, hubris brings the downfall of the arrogant, even when they can see the future in Andrew Legge’s Lola, which releases in theaters and on VOD this Friday.

“Thom” is the socially awkward genius, who invented the “Lola” device. Martha is her hard-partying sister, who becomes a fan of Dylan, Bowie, and the 1960’s counter-culture through the Lola. She is not a scientist, but she does the leg work for their “Angel of Portobello” radio broadcasts, giving advance warning of the next day’s air raids. Martha also “handles” Lt. Sebastian, the ambitious intelligence officer, who traces their signal. Unfortunately, Thom starts to resent both Sebastian’s unwelcome oversight and her sister’s romantic interest in him.

Lola is not exactly a time-travel film, but it is a very clever, low-fi sf film that twists the time continuum into knots. It is also one of the more inventive “found footage” movies in years. Initially, found footage seems like a strange choice to tell the tale, but it makes sense at the end.

Legge incorporates archival newsreel footage for a Zelig-like effect, but that is really the least of it. The most intriguing aspects of the screenplay, co-written by Legge and Angeli Macfarlane, are the ways in which the Hanbury Sisters use their device to re-shape the war. At first, they very successfully mitigate the impact of the London Blitz. However, as they get more ambitious, they start causing unintended consequences.

Rialto at MoMA: It Always Rains on Sunday

These Eastenders lived gritty working-class lives not unlike those of the long-running British soap opera, but their story is much more noir. Ealing Studios put themselves on the map with this slice-of-life story that explored the aspirations and regrets of a wide circle of characters, tangentially related to an escaped prison inmate currently at-large. Post-war life is hard, even for the criminals in Robert Hamer’s It Always Rains on Sunday, which screens as part of MoMA’s Rialto at 25 film series.

Tommy Swann once swept Rose Sandigate off her feet, but went he was sentenced to prison, she settled down with her current husband George Sandigate—with the emphasis on “settle.” Her relationship with her step-daughters is strained, to put it mildly. To the annoyance of Vi and Doris Sandigate, their good-natured father largely defers to his second wife. He knows she used to run with a fast crowd, but news of Swann’s escape means nothing to him.

Inevitably, Swann will approach his old flame for help, which she cannot deny him. Initially, she hides him in their old air raid shelter, as she waits for the rest of the family to leave for their Sunday recreation. Meanwhile, the police launch a citywide dragnet, while also searching for a gang of three burglars, who are desperately trying to fence the shipment of roller-skates they mistakenly boosted.

In some ways, Sunday is Robert Altman-esque film, introducing viewers to a large cast of characters, revealing the unexpected ways they are interconnected. Yet, it also has some gorgeously moody noir sequences (shot by legendary cinematographer Douglas Slocombe) that would not look out of place in classic Carol Reed film noirs, like Odd Man Out or The Third Man.

Indeed, the last thirty minutes are as good as noir gets. Hamer definitely down-shifts into the third act, but the way the everyday desperations of the first hour builds into the life-and-death conflict of the finale makes perfect emotional and dramatic sense.

Enys Men: Cornish Folk Horror

This is a very Cornish film, but at least it was not produced in the Cornish language, which would have been a “performative” gimmick. Yet, in a way, it hardly would have mattered considering how little dialogue there is in this 16mm exercise in isolation and dread. The lonely landscape and Cornwall’s tragic history contribute to a woman’s descent into madness during the deliberate course of Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men, which opens Friday in New York.

We only know the woman as “The Volunteer,” who has come to the deserted isle of Enys Men (which translates to “Stone Island”) to observe the wildlife, particularly a patch of wildflowers. It is a methodical routine, with little variation, at least initially, but that appears to be what the Volunteer wants. At night, she still maintains her personal rituals, including reading A Blueprint for Survival, a 1970s environmental tract that may have directly contributed to her impending doom. Her only company comes from the occasional scheduled supply runs from the “Boatman,” who seems to mean more to her than a mere deliveryman.

Jenkins repeats this pattern over and over again, so the audience can pick up small deviations when they first start to develop. It begins with small lichen appearing on the Volunteer’s wildflowers. Then the fungi starts growing on her long-healed scar. Here and there, we see ever-so brief flashes of visions or hallucinations, harkening back to the Bal Maidens and the isle’s long-deserted mines.

A pat description of Enys Men might be “experimental folk horror.” As a filmmaker, Jenkins clearly exhibits avant-garde and ethnographic sensibilities. The film has a remarkably vivid sense of place—nearly to the exclusion of everything else. Yet, he milks a palpable sense of mounting dread from the eerie standing stones and abandoned monuments, quite skillfully.

Emily: The Middle Bronte Sister

Except for a few poems also published, Emily Bronte is basically a one-hit wonder, but as part of the Bronte Sisters, she doesn’t seem like one. Of course, the Brontes wouldn’t be the same Brontes without Wuthering Heights. Her short but appropriately melodramatic life is somewhat speculatively dramatized in director-screenwriter Frances O’Connor’s Emily, which opens tomorrow in New York.

Emily is always considered the flaky Bronte sister, especially her father, Patrick. The stern minister expected all his surviving daughters to be educated and find employment as teachers, but Emily fell apart whenever she left the Bronte ancestral home. If it was any consolation, her ne-er-do-well brother Branwell is an even greater disappointment, so naturally they bond over their love of poetry and mischievous pranks.

Initially, the middle Bronte sister think very little of the new curate, William Weightman, who shares her father’s faith-above-reason approach to theology. At first, she resents his moralizing, especially when tutoring her in French. However, their bickering eventually melts into an ill-fated romance.

Bronte’s relationship with Weightman is almost entirely fictionalized, as are some of the colorful gothic episodes O’Connor cooks up, but they all fit with the Bronte legend. In fact, there are some sequences with a creepy mask that are surprisingly cool and effective.

We Are Not Alone, on Roku

It looks like we can also blame Richard Nixon for the alien invasion of Earth. He is the one who agreed to fund the Voyager probe, which the Gu’un just followed its trajectory back to us. If only he hadn’t been such a liberal big-spender. They are here regardless and they intend to stay. Poor Stewart is the junior bureaucrat recruited to help communicate the new overlords message in Fergal Costello’s We Are Not Alone, which premieres tomorrow on the Roku Channel.

The alien invasion was especially traumatic for Stewart, because their advance capsule landed on his best friend Robbie when they were leaving the pub. The Gu’un really don’t get how things work here, so the regional commander decides to govern the UK from Clitheroe, because it is in the dead center of the country. She adopts the inappropriate name of Trater, due to an equally iffy grasp of the language. The Gu’un all chose odd new “earthly monikers, because the sound of their real names cause humans to void their bowels.

Stewart lacks ambition under the best of circumstances, so he is very conflicted about working for the alien occupiers. However, he likes the generous new salary and the swanky new pad. Unfortunately, he will have to share it with his alien minder, the dim-witted Greggs. Even more awkwardly, the resistance pressures him to be their inside saboteur. Most of the Anti-Alien Alliance (AAA) does not inspire much confidence, except for Elodie, the pub owner he has long carried a torch for.

Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond (known for writing and appearing in the original Ghosts) have a knack for penning “stupid” sounding dialogue, in a smart way. They also make a drolly amusing Heckle and Jeckle pair as Cirsch and Darrenth, two flat-footed Gu’un sentries. Their soft science fiction is not groundbreaking, but they and Costello really keep the dialogue consistently snappy.

Lion vs the Little People—It Never Uses the “M” Word

This is the sort of film that makes you wonder what kid of elevator pitch the filmmakers developed. Basically, it is a mockumentary creating the fictional backstory of a semi-real internet hoax. It probably sounds exploitative, but it tries to make all the right points about representation and agency of little people. How well that works is debatable throughout screenwriter-director Raphael Warner’s Lion vs the Little People, which is now available on VOD.

At the end of Lion, the closing titles admit the expose the audience just watched is fictional, but they maintain the pretense up to that point. Apparently, a phony BBC news item really did go viral claiming 42 little people were killed in a mysterious battle with a lion. Technically, it used the “M” word, which Warner always scrupulously bleeps. The story (and it is a story) goes a dodgy FOB cardboard magnate named Larry Vincent Ross created an underground little people fight circuit in Macau, in partnership with a Chinese gangster with high-ranking CCP connections. That part is pretty believable, especially the photoshopped pictures of him with Bill Clinton. The TV ads he supposedly cut for his ill-fated chain of dojos are less credible.

When the illegal fight circuit took off, Ross and his associates escalated the action, pitting his little people fighters against animals. Inevitably, things got a little too hot, so they decided to cash-out with a big finale, but they had to lure legit little actors from Hollywood for their battle royale against a lion.

Let me repeat: I am not making this up—but Warner is. The film goes out of its way to use the right terms and criticize stereotypes, but the fundamental premise is just about the most exploitative thing you could imagine—and that is inevitably (if maybe unintentionally) reflected in the one-sheet.

Yet, it has to be stipulated this is a work of great chutzpah from Warner. Seriously, you have to wonder how he pitched this film. Somehow, he even managed to recruit Linda Thorson (fondly remembered as Tara King, Emma Peel’s successor on The Avengers) to play Gayle Bennet, the Hollywood casting director duped by Ross.

Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light

The Empire Theatre is troubled, but the movies it books are not part of the problem. During the course of this film, we will see it screening Chariots of Fire, The Blues Brothers, Smoky and the Bandit, and Being There. Unfortunately, this release is not nearly as good as those that it references in passing. It is presented as a tribute to the movie-going experience, but like a bad projectionist, focus is a problem for Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light, which opens tomorrow.

Hilary Small is the one who keeps things running at the Empire, in the coastal town of Margate. However, she is easily dominated by her exploitative boss, Mr. Ellis, who also uses her for quickies in his office, much to the disgust of the other employees. Her life of quiet desperation leads to a breakdown, but after her brief hospitalization, she returns for more of the same, just with more medication. Things only start to change when Stephen joins the staff. The smart teen aging into adulthood should be going to university, but he lacks sufficient funds and the proper skin color (according to Mendes’ didactic screenplay).

He and Small are drawn together, as fellow outsiders. Their rapport will take a turn towards the romantic, despite vast differences between them. However, Stephen will eventually figure out Small’s emotional issues have only been masked, rather than cured.

If you want to watch the great cinematographer Roger Deakins paint pretty pictures with light, then Empire will certainly deliver. However, the melodrama reeks of sentimentality and the periodic attacks on Thatcherism (which reversed the UK’s decline into economic stagnation and international insignificance) are gratingly unnecessary distractions.

Frankly, despite some rather lovely scenes of projectors streaming down on the movie palace’s screen, Empire could have just as easily been set in a fish & chips shop, without losing much beyond Deakin’s visuals. Small’s relationship with her co-worker stays on the right (legal) side of Summer of ’42, but it is hard to buy them as a romantic couple. At times, Stephen gets lost in the film, overshadowed by Small’s angst and resentments. Focus really is an issue here.

The Pay Day, with Simon Callow

The best caper-heist movies are meticulously detailed. It’s that little stuff, like the umbrella catching the debris in Rififi that makes them fun. This film isn’t like that at all. In large measure, both the cast and characters seem to be making it up as they go along. However, if you adjust your expectations and settle in for some double- and triple-crossing trickery, there might be something to Sam Bradford’s The Pay Day, which releases today in theaters and on VOD.

Jennifer just got sacked from her London IT job, because her [former] boss is an exploitative shark. She already has an offer of sorts, but it is somewhat non-traditional. The mysterious mastermind calling himself Gates wants her to sneak into a big “City” bank’s corporate office to steal a list of dodgy accounts and their passwords. The source of the dirty funds is a bit vague and it seems to keep shifting from conversation to conversation, but she could certainly use her multi-million-Pound cut.

However, Jennifer has a harder time infiltrating the building than anticipated because of Gates’ junky intel. She also has to con her way around George, whom she assumes is an investment banker, but viewers can tell from his entrance, he is actually another thief trying to make the same big score. Yet, despite the circumstances, they have a weird flirty thing going on, even after she accidently shoots him.

As co-screenwriters, Kyla Frye and Sam Benjamin are more successful fooling the lead characters they play than the audience watching it pan out. However, it is rather lively. They made three previous short films together, so there is at least a pre-existing professional relationship there. Regardless, their chemistry in Pay Day works surprisingly well.